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Pre fight analysis for “The Ultimate Fighter 7” finale

June

19

After the most controversial finale in “The Ultimate Fighter” history, we get to see a rematch between Amir Sadollah and CB Dolloaway to determine “The Ultimate Fighter 7”, live from the Palms Resort in Las Vegas, Nevada.

After almost a two-year layoff, the former UFC middleweight champion had a tough task ahead of him, and was sent to the canvas in round 2 for his efforts when he battled Yushin Okami in his return to the UFC. When Evan Tanner made hiscomeback, I was pretty surprised to see that he would be facing Yushin Okami. If I were making matches, I would have had Tanner fight Grove first, and then square off against Okami, provided he was successful against Grove. But I don’t make the matches, I just write about them. Kendall Grove is on a 2 fight-losing streak. He needs to win this fight, but I don’t see him winning it. I think Tanner has seen the best of his career, but I also think he has too much experience and gas in the tank to be defeated by Grove. Grove has no punching power. He has pretty slick submissions, but Tanner has won 63 percent of his fights by submission, so I don’t see Grove putting Tanner to sleep or knocking him out. I think Grove has been over rated since winning TUF 3. This is a must win fight for both fighters, and I look for Tanner to be victorious.

Prediction: Evan Tanner â€“ TKO Round 2

Welterweights – Diego Sanchez vs. Luigi Fioravanti

Once upon a time, Diego Sanchez was running through the competition, and was working his way up the ladder for a title shot.

After losing back-to-back matches to Josh Koscheck and Jon Fitch, Sanchez rebounded successfully with a knockout victory of UFC newcomer David Bielkheden. This is a really good fight for Diego. He needs to rack up a few more wins to get back in the good graces of his fans and to work his way back up to title shot contention. Luigi Fioravanti hits pretty hard. He has 7 KO victories. Sanchez has never been knocked out or submitted, so I don’t see Fioravanti dropping Sanchez. Fioravanti has also had trouble with the bigger names in the UFC, guys like Jon Fitch and Chris Leben. I think Sanchez will find a way to get this fight to the ground and use his superior grappling ability to choke Fioravanti out.

Prediction: Diego Sanchez â€“ Submission â€“ Round 1

Lightweights – Spencer Fisher vs. Jeremy Stephens

This is going to be a slug fest. Both of these guys are known to stand up and bang it out, and I expect nothing less from this bout. Spencer has some submission skills, but I never see him pursuing the take down and trying to pull off a submission. There isn’t much else to say about this fight. Someone is going down, or it’s going to be a slug fest to decision. I’m going TKO/KO Fisher.

Prediction – Spencer Fisher TKO/KO Round 2

Amir Sadollah vs. CB Dolloway – Winner is declared “The Ultimate Fighter 7”
The first bout between CB and Amir was pretty exciting, but it showed huge gaps in both of their arsenals. CB Dolloway’s stand up needs some serious work. He throws his punches hard , but he also lets his hands flail and never brings his fists back to his face/ leaving his chin wide open for counter strikes. Tim Credeur was able to capitalize on this a few times in his fight with Dolloway, landing crisp jabs and crosses square on the chin of CB.

Of the two fighters, Amir obviously has the better stand up . He is more fluid on his feet and his combinations are crisp. Amir likes to throw flying knees and superman punches, and was taken down numerous times for his efforts in his first fight with Dolloway. He has to watch out for that this time around. Luckily for Amir, Dolloway sat in Amir’s guard and never did a lot of damage, aside from the one elbow that split Amir open. Amir was constantly looking for submissions and eventually pulled a very slick arm bar off.

I think that Amir is the all around better fighter of the two. Dolloway has more power and better wrestling, but his stand up leaves much to be desired and his ground and pound was not vicious enough to neutralize the very active guard of Amir. I think we are going to see a more patient Amir Sadollah in the finale. I think he will work punch/kick combinations without attempting the superman punches and flying knees in the clinch. I have to believe that he is drilling his sprawls and take down defense hardcore. If he can neutralize CB’s take downs, this fight is his for the taking. Both of these guys are good, but Amir just impresses me all around.

Web programmer by day, practicing mixed martial artist at night, Larry Vollmer Jr. brings the latest news from the Ultimate Fighting Championship and the rest of the mixed martial arts world - a fast-spreading obsession on TV and online. These are the bouts - they occur in an octagon-shaped "ring" - that test men's souls.